Gene Hackman

Note: I’m not sure I’ve ever posted twice in a single day, but the news of Gene Hackman’s passing hit hard. The circumstances of his death remain mysterious at this point, but there’s no ambiguity about one thing: he truly was one of the best, and certainly my favorite actor of modern times. It didn’t feel right to tack this at the end of the usual first-Sunday post, so here is…

I can't overstate the impact Gene Hackman had on me as Popeye Doyle in The French Connection. Having committed to study film after a few years of going through the motions in school, I was enamored with the classics of old Hollywood: the films of Ford, Hawks, Anthony Mann, Budd Boettecher, and many more, but other than "The Wild Bunch," hadn't seen many then-modern films that truly gripped me.

Then came The French Connection, which absolutely blew my young mind -- and nothing was quite the same. That's when I knew I was headed for Hollywood come hell or high water.

There are good obits from several papers that tell his story better than I could -- like this and this -- and they're worth reading. As one put it: "Hackman’s career has so much gold in it that it is almost impossible to mine."

Indeed. Thanks for the memories, Gene.

RIP